Schedules are growing more hectic in the Little household with the arrival of the warmer weather. So, once again, I’m turning to my trusty sidekick – the slow cooker – to help with dinner. Lots of folks think of the slow cooker as a cool weather appliance, but I love it for the ease of getting meals ready during the busy time of the year and love that it doesn’t heat up the whole house when it’s so warm outside. These Slow Cooker Meatballs are a great way to do just that. Pop them in the slow cooker in the morning and when you get home all you’ve got to do is boil some pasta and make a salad. You can even use these to make amazing meatballs sandwiches.
So let’s get to making some meatballs, shall we? Here we have all our ingredients in one big bowl.
Now, the first instinct is to just dive right in there and start squishing around. But, I’ve found that using a fork to “stir” everything together works better because it keeps the mixture from getting overworked. You’ll just need to make sure it’s all mixed well.
Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture and roll it into a ball. I like to use a 1/4 cup cookie scoop for this. It’s keeps them all the same size.
We’ve got one jar of the sauce in the slow cooker (that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray -you’ll thank me when it’s clean-up time). Put the meatballs all in there and then top with the other jar of sauce. Then put the lid on it and cook on low for about 5 hours.
There you have it! Delicious and EASY Slow Cooker Meatballs. These are great served over pasta or even in a meatball sandwich!
Recipe Card
Slow Cooker Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 (24-ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 egg (lightly beaten)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Lightly spray the crock of a slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Pour one jar of the sauce in the slow cooker.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, garlic powder, onion powder, bread crumbs, salt and black pepper. (I like to use a fork for this. It gets everything blended without overworking the mixture.) Scoop about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture and roll it into a ball. Place the meatball into the slow cooker on top of the sauce and repeat until all of the meat mixture has been formed into balls. Top with the other jar of sauce and cook covered on low for about 5 hours.
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Elise Pierce
Stacey, can I use frozen meatballs for this recipe? Only to save a bit of time?
I’ve not tested it, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work.
Debbi
If I wanted to add puttanesca sauce to this recipe, should I just replace 1 of the 2 jars of spaghetti sauce with a jar of puttanesca?
I think that could work. Let me know how it turns out.
Denra
This is just a handy dandy tasty recipe. Can be inexpensive depending on sauce you choose. Freezes well!
Thanks so much, Denra!
Catherine Hoskin
Absolutely delicious!
Super easy to make. Just let the slow-cooker do the rest.
I double the recipe, except for the sauce. Also used half ground beef, half Italian sausage.
This sounds great!
Debbie M
I made this recipe and brought about half the meatballs to my brother and sister-in-law so they would not have to worry about dinner after their daughter’s bridal shower. Everyone loved them and has requested the recipe. I used 1 lb ground pork and 1 lb lean ground beef, added about 3/4 cup of Parmesean cheese, and increased the amount of seasonings slightly. Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe!
So glad to hear everyone enjoyed them!!
Denise
Stacey, Absolutely love your recipes! I was raised in the South & these recipes are what I grew up eating. I have never found a good Meatloaf recipe until I found your secret ingredient meatloaf recipe.I have made it several times now & it is delicious. I have made many of your recipes & all of them have been great. I printed alot of your recipes online and bought your cookbook. Hope you will be printing another cookbook soon. Buy the way, I have never seen a recipe for Southern Fried Corn in any cookbook. My Daddy made it for us all the time & I make it alot. Everyone loves it. So nice to finally see it printed in a book. Thank You so very much for sharing your wonderful recipes with us.
Denise, I can’t thank you enough for the kind, kind words!
Pamela Houdashell
I am wondering if using your Secret Ingredient Meatloaf recipe would work as meatballs. That meatloaf is the only one I make any more. And I have made a lot of meatloaf’s in my 73 years and with four kids. Plus, since it is just me now, I usually share it with two or three residents in the apt complex where I live and they love it too.
Thanks so much, Pamela! That’s high prasie in my book. So glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe. When it comes to making it into meatball, I’ve not tried it that way, but I would guess it would work. My only concern would be about them holding together while cooking.
virginia
hi staey ty so much wonderful food you display, it looks great n sure its wonderfull the reason im writing, is can i replace some of the beef with spiced pork, love the combo together, have a great day n keep up ur the great pics you show on here, ginny from long beach ca,
Absolutely! Enjoy. 🙂
Lucy
Do you think ground turkey would turn out as well? Thank you for all the great recipes!
I think it should work just fine. Enjoy!
Becky
Btw, from the look of the ground beef you’ve chosen there is going to be one big layer of grease on top of the sauce. To avoid that one needs to use much leaner ground beef or bake the meatballs to render out the grease before putting them in the sauce
Dear Becky,
Boy am I glad you are here! Humanity has been struggling for the past few millennia just waiting on a humble, selfless, benevolent person such as yourself to teach us the error of our ways and save us from our own self centeredness (not to mention meat grease).
While I sympathize with the trials you had to endure after you clicked over to my page, being subjected to convenient links that would render more free recipes, I can’t help but feel that argument is moot since you did manage to make it all the way to the bottom of a post AND leave a comment. Kudos to you!
Your kindness and concern for the rest of humanity is admirable and we look forward to more of your gracious instructions to us little people here on the web.
Becky
How do you expect people to be able to read your blog articles when your annoying collection of tabs for Pinterest, et al cover the left side of the screen blocking text for minutes. Making one have to look for some way remove them. Why would anyone want to follow someone who wastes their time and is so self centered
Betty Fike
Making these tonight for our Valentines Day Spaghetti Dinner!
Sure hope y’all enjoy them!! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Laura
Last week when I made these I use 2 pounds of meat but stuck to recipe w/ egg and bread crumbs. Today I am using 3 pounds of meat so do you think I should add an extra egg and extra bread crumbs?
I would add some more bread crumbs and an extra egg, but it will work without them.
Laura
Made your crockpot meatballs and they turned out great!! Melt in your mouth meatballs! Thank you for the recipe. Yum!!
That’s awesome, Laura! So glad they turned out great for you!
Georgia
Hi, would it be okay to make the meatballs smaller? If so, would that change the cooking time? Thank you.
Absolutely! The cook time will be a little shorter.
Trish
I made these last Saturday to use for meatball subs. They were devoured by my family!
Very, very good and super easy to make. Beats the store bought frozen meatballs by leaps and bounds. Made the meatballs the night before and put them in the crockpot early Saturday morning.
Excellent. Thanks for sharing a great recipe and method.
Sounds great! Now you’ve got me craving a meatball sub! So glad y’all enjoyed them!
Sarah
What if I wanted to used two pounds of meat? Should I add an extra egg? More bread crumbs?
No, I’d just keep all the other measurements the same.
Linda Copeland
What a coincidence! I have EVERY ingredient listed to make this….right down to an XL size (52 ozs. I think) jar of Marinara pasta sauce Now, to me, that’s a sign I should be making this before the weekend. Thanks for another one of your scrump-diddly-ump-shush recipes, Stacey! 🙂
Hugs & blessings,
Linda
I do think it’s a sign! Hope y’all enjoyed it!!
Samantha
This looks good, Stacey. I’ll have to try it soon. Thanks. Lol, remember I told you that my mother liked your site, so I signed her up for your emails too? She mentioned this recipe to me today before I had a chance to check my emails. She was right, it looks good!
By the way, I just left a review for your Simple Skillet Orange Chicken, which we had for dinner tonight. It was delicious and easy! Being very new to your site, that was the first recipe that I tried. But, I have a bunch more bookmarked and printed out. I’ll let you know when I try them, as I always appreciate reading others’ comments once they’ve tried a recipe.
Seriously, I’m just tickled you and your Mom are finding so much you like, Samantha!
Laura
If you have not tried the meatballs yet you definitely need to try this recipe. I made it last week and making it again today. They melt in your mouth and oh, so tasty!! I added mushrooms and a can of rotel last week. I am going to add rotel, mushrooms and diced or stewed tomatoes this time. Also, using 3 pounds of hamburger so I can share w/ my sister again. She also loved it. That’s what is for dinner! Yum!! Stacey, thank you for all the wonderful recipes!
Thanks so, so much, Laura!!
Kate B.
Hi Stacey! Just wondering–what type of ground beef do you recommend for the meatballs? i.e. ground chuck, sirloin, etc.? Thank you! I enjoy your blog and cookbook!
With this recipe, I usually go as lean as I can. That way there’s not a lot of rendered fat.
Claudia davis
I have a slow cooker that will brown and slow cook. Is it worth the time in a recipe like this to brown the meatballs for a minute or two?
You are welcome to do that. It will certainly add another layer of flavor.
Mitzi
These meatballs sound fantastic but my children (picky toddlers) will not eat meatballs that are covered in spaghetti sauce. Do you have any other suggestions on how to cook these in the slow cooker without using sauce? Thanks.
They’ll need some type of liquid in the slow cooker – gravy even.
Susan
YUM!!! Thank you for this wonderful sounding recipe!! I can’t wait to fix it this weekend!!
Hope you enjoyed them!